Panalpina and Cargolux win Cargo iQ's Q Rally challenge

Dec 14, 2018: Together with fellow member Cargo iQ and partner Cargolux, Panalpina has won the first stage of Cargo iQ’s Q Rally challenge after working together to boost data quality and performance at Luxembourg Airport. The joint team was able to improve the quality rating at Luxembourg Airport from 69 to 94 percent in just six months, beating the target that they set for themselves by nine percentage points.

“The air freight industry is a fast-paced business and much more complex than many people would think. Better data quality results in a better air freight product, for example in terms of shorter transit times. When air cargo is moved from A to B, it passes approximately 20 milestones, as defined by Cargo iQ,” said Marie Seco-Koppen, corporate air freight systems and processes integration manager at Panalpina.

Cargo iQ is an IATA interest group, whose mission it is to create and implement quality standards for the worldwide air cargo industry. The group’s roughly 80 members with major airlines, freight forwarders, ground-handling agents, trucking companies and IT solution providers have developed a system of shipment planning and performance monitoring for air cargo based on common business processes and standard milestones.

As one of 13 board members and as a member of the group’s committee for technology & data, Panalpina plays a very active role in Cargo iQ, ensuring that the group follows a coherent technology strategy.

“The strategy has been laid out to enable the seamless connectivity of different IT systems, provide industry tools for controlling shipments and processes, support automation, capture shipment data and improve data quality, completeness and real-time availability. We want to build a platform where we can analyse, control and through continuous learning improve air cargo shipments,” said Seco-Koppen.

In 2018, Panalpina has defined and worked on over 30 Cargo iQ improvement projects with airlines.

“This great achievement and the award show that we are on the right track with Cargo iQ and that local Air Freight teams, in close collaboration with their partners, can take ownership to greatly improve data quality. Best possible data quality is crucial because it impacts many areas including shipment visibility and ultimately the management of our customers’ supply chains. Better data quality results in a better air freight product, for example in terms of shorter transit times,” explains Seco-Koppen.